Google Analytics (GA4) for Rookies Who Want Real Results

Written By Lisa Oates
 
Marketing Crash Course - Northwest Creative

Part 1 of The Practical Tracking Toolkit for Small Business Owners

This crash course makes my heart sing. I’m a data junkie, and whether you’re on #TeamNumbers with me or not, you need it to make smart marketing decisions. I learned this when I led a marketing team and sat on an org’s leadership team. Having data to back decisions was everything. It gave me confidence in how to proceed in any situation… budget, effort, time, anything.

Tracking data and having an analytics dashboard at your fingertips will change your marketing game. But you need to know what to track, how to track and analyze it, and who needs access.

Enter Google. You can set up a simple system and a few screens you check every month. Here’s a clear, click-by-click guide you can bookmark and follow—built for small teams and solo operators (especially service-based).

 
 

One of the key marketing metrics that helps you make informed decisions is website traffic. Where are the visitors coming from? This gives you greater understanding of what marketing tactics are getting people to click into your site. Sources can be paid, organic, referral, direct, etc. And in Google Analytics, you can see which of those is giving you the most traffic + you can drill down to the sources within each of those categories as well.

Want to know how many website visitors came from LinkedIn last month? Or organically from a Google search? Find that in GA4.

See Your Top Traffic Sources (what’s actually bringing people in)

Goal: Identify the top 3 channels actually delivering humans (not just “reach”).

Click path:

  1. Open GA4 → select your property

  2. Left sidebar: Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition

  3. At the top of the table, set Primary dimension to Session source/medium (or Session source for a simpler view)

  4. Top right: set your Date range (start with Last 28 days, but I also look at YTD and Last 12 months for a broader view)

  5. Sort by Users or Sessions. Then scan Conversions.

What to capture (write it down):

  • Your Top 3 sources driving the most sessions

  • Any source with high traffic but low conversions (future fix-it)

  • Any source with low traffic but high conversions (hidden gem to scale)

Channel-by-Channel Page Performance

We want to see which pages perform best by source (because social behaves differently than search or email).

Do this:

  1. In Traffic acquisition, click Add comparison (top right)

  2. Filter for one source (e.g., google / organic). Apply.

  3. Open a new tab → Reports → Engagement → Landing page

  4. Compare the main table vs the comparison segment you just created

Read the pattern:

  • Social traffic → favors shorter, visual, CTA-forward pages

  • Organic search → favors long-form guides, evergreen content

  • Email → favors direct CTAs, booking/contact/sales pages

Rule of thumb: Don’t look at “top pages” universally; look at “top pages per channel.” That’s where strategy happens.

 

It’s one thing to understand where the traffic is coming from, but it’s next-level to see how folks are engaging with your website. In GA4, you can track which pages people are viewing, how many times they take action on the page (these are called events), how much time they spend on the page, etc.

Goal: Know which pages keep attention and move people forward.

Click path:

  1. Reports → Engagement → Pages and screens

  2. Use these columns:

    • Views (popularity)

    • Users (unique reach)

    • Average engagement time (depth)

    • Event count / Conversions (action)

  3. Sort by Views to find your top content, then scan Average engagement time to spot “sticky” pages.

  4. Click any page row to see its event activity (interactions).

Capture monthly:

  • Top 5 pages by Views

  • Top 3 pages by Average engagement time

  • Any page with strong engagement but weak conversion → add a stronger CTA, form, or next step

 

Whenever I build a website for someone, my first question is around why they want a site and what they want their site to do for them. Most of the time, small businesses want their websites to bring in leads and/or sales. In GA4, you can track those conversion points automatically with a little setup.

Pick one primary conversion and one secondary. Keep it simple.

If the event already exists in GA4

  1. Admin (gear icon) → Events

  2. Find the event (search by name, e.g., generate_lead, form_submit)

  3. Toggle Mark as conversion → ON. Done.

Create a conversion from a thank-you page view

(Use this if your forms redirect to a thank-you page.)

  1. Admin → Events → Create event → Create

  2. Name it clearly (e.g., thankyou_view)

  3. Matching conditions:

    • Parameter: page_location

    • Operator: contains

    • Value: /thank-you (use your URL slug)

  4. Save

  5. Back on Events, toggle thankyou_view ON as a conversion

Create a conversion from a button/link click

(You’ll set this up in Part 2 of this series on Google Tag Manager—then come back here and mark it as a conversion.)

  1. After you send the event to GA4 via GTM (e.g., button_click), go to Admin → Events

  2. Toggle your new event ON as a conversion

 

Don’t just set it and forget it! Once you have customized your views in GA4 to accommodate the above for your business, make sure you are regularly checking progress to make better marketing decisions over time.

Create a recurring calendar task: Marketing Metrics Review (10 minutes).

In GA4, Open:

  • Traffic acquisition (top sources)

  • Landing pages (by channel)

  • Conversions (count + rate)

Answer these questions:

  • What channel should we scale?

  • What channel should we fix (or pause)?

  • Which pages earned more attention—can we repurpose or promote them?

  • Did the primary conversion go up or down—what changed?

Stick with this. I can confidently state from experience that small, consistent tweaks beat big, erratic overhauls every time.

 

If things don’t seem to be working properly in GA4, here are a few common issues and how to fix them.

  • “I don’t see my event.” Check Admin → DebugView for real-time firing, then give GA4 a few hours.

  • “My numbers look off.” Verify Date range, Filters/Comparisons, and that you’re in the right Property.

  • “Engagement is high but conversions are low.” Add a clear CTA above the fold, simplify forms, reduce fields, and add a value statement next to the button.

 

I know I can get a little technical and use “marketing speak,” so here is a little glossary of terms that might help.

  • Session source/medium: Where a visit came from (e.g., google / organic, instagram.com / referral)

  • Landing page: The first page a visitor hits

  • Event: Any tracked action (view, click, submit, download)

  • Conversion: An event you’ve marked as a “win” (primary or secondary)

 

Here’s the point.

You don’t need to be a “data person.” You need clarity. GA4 gives you the truth about what’s working on your website, what isn’t, and where to focus next. Start with sources, pages, and one or two conversions. That’s enough to make smarter decisions every month.

Up Next (Part 2): Google Tag Manager

Track button clicks & lead magnet downloads (without touching code). I’ll show you, step-by-step, how to:

  • Fire a GA4 event when someone clicks “Book a Call”

  • Track PDF/lead magnet downloads cleanly

  • Pipe those into GA4 as conversions so you can finally see momentum between “visit” and “sale”

 

Would you rather have someone else take care of your marketing?

One of my greatest joys is supporting small businesses with their ongoing marketing and design needs. Let me take it off your plate.

MARKETING RETAINERS
Lisa Oates

I build intentional marketing strategies and design for brands driven by purposeful work. Fueled by coffee, dreaming, and a whole lot of fun!

http://www.northwestcreative.co
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